In remarks this afternoon, FCC Chairman Ajit Pai laid out his plan for reversing the prior FCC’s Order treating broadband Internet access service as a regulated telecommunications service under Title II of the Communications Act. Interestingly, the Chairman declined to immediately reverse the Order through issuance of a Declaratory Rule.  Saying he did not believe that was “the right path forward,” Pai said instead that the deision “should be made through an open and transparent process in which every American can share his or her views.” 

Accordingly, Pai said he had shared with the other Commissioners a proposal, in the form of a Notice of Proposed Rulemaking (NPRM), that will be voted on at the FCC’s May 18, 2017, Open Meeting.  Pai also said that the text of the Notice of Proposed Rulemaking will be released tomorrow (April 27, 2017).

 He briefly outlined the basic elements of the NPRM, as follows:

• Broadband service would be reclassified from a Title II telecommunications service to a Title I information service and subject to the “light-touch regulation” expressly upheld by the Supreme Court in 2005. 
• The Internet conduct standard (also called the General Conduct Rule) would be eliminated.  Pai described this rule as giving the FCC a “roving mandate to micromanage the Internet.”
• The FCC would seek comment on how it should approach the so-called bright-line rules (the no-blocking, no throttling, and no paid prioritization rules) adopted in 2015.

You can read the full speech here.  The FCC also released two Factsheets: Restoring Internet Freedom For All Americans and Internet Regulations: Myths vs. Facts.